Find Free Money at Home - Time to Clean up
It's that time of year again. December 1, holiday time. A time when lots of bills can be due, renewals are coming, and of course...gift purchasing. Depending on family size and personal social network, you could have a lot of things to buy. So it's time buddy. Time to clean up your home and find stuff.
This may seem obvious, but unless you are a meticulous note taker, there are things in your home that you forgot existed. Which means, in most cases, they aren't important. Which means you can sell them, or better yet, give them a new home...with someone else...as a very "personal" gift. I hope the pictures in this post help motivate you to find stuff. Here is a list of places to look to get you started:
Under and behind your bed and sofa - I found an old battery pack and two quarters. Plus, it's clean now.
Kitchen cabinets - if you haven't used that Corona gift set you got two years ago, you probably never will. Good re-gifting section, and stuff to throw away.
Closets - usually your home's gold mine. Go at it one closet at a time. Lord only knows how much crap we throw into closets with intent to use later. Nope. Sell it, gift it, chuck it.
Outside storage - not as common, but could find a few nuggets there. I had my Xbox 360 and DSi in there. Also, some of your survival stuff may be bad, so time to ask for them as gifts. Money saved!
Plastic storage containers - out of sight, out of mind as they say. Especially if they are not transparent. I found an old set of Klipsch speakers in one. Also, little things for gifts(some people are going to hate me this year)
Email spam box - not joking. You may have a coupon in there for a store that may not mean a thing to you, but where you can buy a gift for someone else. Savings!
Once you have your little pile of goodies, it is time to figure out where each thing goes. I would take the following steps with most items:
Look up their value on ebay and Amazon. What if it's rare? You may want to sell it instead of gifting it. If you don't have time to make listings and ship however...
Craig's List - sell it there. Or look to trade. I personally don't use it, as I'm too paranoid. You may be ok however.
Pawn shop - you know the approximate value of your things, see if you can get enough to be satisfied at your local pawn shop. It will be less than online, but you are paying for convenience.
Gift pile - take whatever is left, and figure out if you can gift it. You know your friends and family, don't gift a fruit cake to someone with gluten allergy.
Donation pile - whatever is left, if any, should probably be donated. Especially useful if you itemize deductions on your tax return, as that can be money for you.
Hopefully you found enough stuff to make a dent in your holiday budget. Best case, get something nice for yourself with all them extra dollars.
Get boning!
